Blood Ties
by Zaratan
Summary: Ron has to talk with Kim, to finally settle things after so many years and so much pain, and to apologize for failing her when she needed him most. Takes place after StarvingLunatic's stories New Blood and New Life.


Kim Possible is owned by Disney, I only play with it.

The story concept is also not mine. This is a one-shot based off the StarvingLunatic story New Blood and takes place after the sequel New Life, for which she gave me permission to write this. It's just a little add-on to the end of her tale, to resolve a few things, at least for me anyways. Hope you enjoy it!

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Blood Ties

Ron couldn't sleep.

He had tried everything at this point, but nothing was working. He thought at first it was the way too comfy bed that they were lying in, after years of living in Japan, but he had never had any problems before when he came to visit his folks. Then he thought that, after what had happened today, Kim coming back, after years being gone, he thought it might have been the excitement that was keeping him awake. But when even meditation didn't settle him down, he knew there was something that he had to do. Now if he only had the courage to do it.

"Ron-kun."

Ron winced as he realized he had woken up his wife. He turned his head, catching her gaze as she looked back at him with concern. He smiled back, trying to quell her concerns. "Sorry Yori, didn't mean to wake you. Probably just the snackage getting to me from earlier. Still love it, but man is it hard to take after a few months straight of sushi and rice."

Yori just gave him a wry grin, her eyes sparkling briefly. "I don't think even the worst discomfort would stop you." The grin faded though, as Yori looked to her husband. "But that is not what is keeping you awake now, is it?"

The smile dropped from Ron's face, knowing he could never lie to his wife. "No… no it's not."

Yori turned, placing a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder, smiling serenely at him. "Go, speak with her."

"Yori…"

Ron wanted to protest, but Yori quickly cut him off. "Beloved, this has been a hole in the middle of your soul, one I have seen ever since you came back to Yamanouchi. When you first came back, it was obvious the despair you were in. Even after we ran into Shego, and we learned Possible-san was all right, though… that hole has remained. This is something you must do."

With a sigh, Ron's head dropped, looking down at the bed. "You're right."

Yori gently cupped his chin, raising his eyes to meet hers again. "Of course I am right, am I not your wife. I am always right." Both chuckled at that, easing the tension. "Now my husband, you go speak with her. Clear your heart of this burden that has plagued you for so long."

Ron leaned in to kiss her softly, only pulling away a bit to look his wife in the eyes. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Yori smiled at Ron's question. "You were just you, just as you always have been."

"I love you."

"I love you too beloved."

With one last kiss, Ron pulled himself from the bed, and threw on some clothes. With one last lingering look at his wife, who had smiled at him the whole time he was getting changed, he exited the guest room his parents had put them in and silently made his way down the stairs. He hardly needed his skills to get out of the house, he knew how soundly his family slept, but he thought it best to keep in practice all that he had been taught over the last few years.

Once he was out of the house, he pulled free the Kimmunicator, or at least the latest model Wade had designed, and signaled his friend.

Wade was grinning when he answered it, wide awake. "Took you long enough."

Ron had to smile as it was obvious Wade had been expecting this. "So, any luck?"

"You were right." Wade's fingers flew over the keyboard. "I have activity at an old lair of Drakken's. Not much, but I'm guessing it's them."

"Thanks Wade. Send me the coordinates."

A couple of key taps later, Wade was finished. "All yours. Good luck."

"Thanks Wade." Ron glanced up at the moon for a second, wistfully. "I'm gonna need it."

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Kim and Shego hadn't given them an address, or even a number to contact. That meant they were worried about security. The fact that Kim couldn't do that with her friends and family meant that it was dangerous for them, and possibly dangerous for her family, if anyone knew where they were. That meant a potentially high level threat, and that was something he wasn't about to dismiss. Wade had already cleared his systems of the information, and Ron didn't feel concerned for Wade himself. He knew his hacker friend could handle himself. But that meant Ron had to take precautions approaching Kim and Shego's location.

What should have been a quick thirty minute ride up to the lair had already been three hours, as Ron made sure there was no way anyone could follow him. He had to assume that he was being watched, though he hadn't felt anyone at all.

Of course, now that he was here, he also had to watch out for any traps that the pair had set to catch any intruders unawares. That seemed to be taking even longer than getting to the lair had been. Shego and Kim had been very thorough, and both were the best at what they did. Still, with enough care and careful timing, Ron slowly made his way through the security measures.

Bypassing the last sensor, Ron slid from the vent into the kitchen, breathing a sigh of relief. The measures they had in place were impressive, but Ron had spent years training.

Of course, just as he figured he was all in the clear, the lights snapped on. Ron let out a groan as he saw Shego standing in the doorway, a frown on her face. "All right, which one did I trip? I didn't think I missed any of them."

"You didn't. Have to admit, you were good there." Shego walked into the room, still seeming a bit defensive. "Problem is, never have spicy foods before you try to sneak into a place. The smell stays with you. Besides, I was pretty much expecting you to show up at some point." Shego moved to the refrigerator, looked through what was there, and then deciding nothing looked good, closed it back up. "Let me guess, Nerdlinger tracked us down?"

"Power readings where they shouldn't have been. Wade's already masking the signals from that to cover you further. Figured when you didn't give us a number to call, you didn't want to be found. Wade's already wiped his systems of this location, and the masking signals are all automatic."

Shego nodded approvingly, though she was still frowning. "Smart boy. That school in Japan did you some good after all."

There was an awkward silence between the two of them now at this point, as Ron kept looking around, glancing occasionally over at Shego, while the green-skinned ex-villainess kept her eyes locked on Ron like a large cat eying her prey. With a sigh, Ron finally broke the stalemate. "Look, I'm not looking to take her away from you."

Shego flinched slightly, barely noticeably, but enough for Ron to guess his assumption correct. "What Princess does or doesn't do is her own deal."

Ron was going to say more, like how it was obvious just how much she loved Kim, or something along those lines, but it was also obvious from the set of her features that Ron would quite likely be risking third degree burns by trying to get Shego to open up to her feelings. That really wasn't something that he felt like dealing with at the moment.

Ron nodded to Shego, taking a deep breath. "Guess I better go talk to Kim then."

"Guess you should."

Ron headed through the now open door, but paused when he reached it, placing one hand on the door frame. "Shego..." he turned to see Shego eying him, "thanks for taking care of Kim and... saving her."

Shego was silent for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, well... she was my Princess."

Ron nodded once again before heading through the door.

It was fairly obvious where Kim was, he could hear the echoing sounds of blows on leather. Ron followed the sounds down the hallway to what turned out to be a gym. He stood in the open doorway, watching Kim as she pounded on the punching bag. Wearing little more than shorts and a sports bra, she worked the bag over tirelessly, and Ron took a moment to admire her figure as any guy would. Kim hadn't aged a day since he had last seen her, and while he could see that she was toner, the overall package was just how he remembered it.

"Going to stand there watching me all night? What would your wife think?"

Ron chuckled when he caught the smirk from Kim as she turned her head to glance at him. "I think my wife would kick my butt all the way back to Japan."

Kim laughed as well, delivering one last shot to the bag before grabbing it, halting it's momentum. "You know Ron, if you're going to go sneaking into lairs, you really..."

"Yeah, yeah, no Bueno Nacho before breaking into a place. Shego mentioned that."

Kim let the bag go and turned to Ron, smiling. "So what's up? Started breaking into places for fun?"

"Nahh, just wasn't sure how big you were on security. Figured it had to be pretty high when you didn't give us a number or anything."

Kim winced slightly. "Yeah, sorry about that. We have... some issues with some people who don't exactly like the idea of Shego and I running around."

"Figured as much." Ron sat down on the bench and waited for Kim to sit beside him before he touched on what he came to talk about. "That was some trick with the whole sunlight bit." Ron caught Kim starting slightly and knew he was on the mark. "Does this mean..."

"Not... exactly."

Ron's eyebrow shot up at that. "Not exactly?"

Kim glanced over at Ron, seeing his concern. "I'm still a vampire." Now Kim saw Ron wince. "I just... I have it more under control than before. Bit of magic, bit of alchemy, no more bloodlust. I still need blood, I just... don't have a problem around people that I used to have. I take it, since no one asked, that everyone at home knows?"

"Not... exactly." They shared a smile as Ron turned her phrase around on her. "No one believed me, not your folks, not Global Justice, none of them. Global Justice even put the whole thing off to some super powered freak that got the best of us. Yori knows, but then you probably know that, since we've run into Shego a few times, but the rest... they mostly think you were staying away because someone would hurt your family if you were near them. It was easier to let them think that, at least up until the first time we ran into Shego."

Kim nodded thoughtfully at that. "I was planning on telling them after a few more visits, so that they understand why I had to stay away. It... it just wasn't safe to be around me."

"I understand KP, I do. Still... would have been nice to hear from you, even if it was only a phone call."

Now Kim was frowning deeply, turning away. "Sorry, I just... if I talked to you, I'd want to see you and... I just couldn't take that chance." Kim turned back to Ron, her expression serious. "Besides, I wasn't allowed to. Heck, Shego broke the rules just by telling you I was all right."

Ron looked to Kim curiously. "Rules?"

Kim sighed, knowing how Ron was going to react. "Global Justice. That's where Shego and I spent most of the last seven years."

"WHAT?" Ron was on his feet, his agitation clear. "Those... they told me... and this whole time..."

"They were trying to find a cure, or at least they were trying." Kim was on her feet now, her hand on Ron's arm. "Shego and I just got tired of waiting. That's who the security measures are for." Kim couldn't tell Ron about the experiments and such, he'd go down there right now and tear the place apart. "We're dealing with it. No big."

Ron seemed to calm down a bit, and they resumed sitting. Now Ron looked especially uncomfortable, as he avoided looking at Kim. "Ron, what is it?"

"KP... I'm sorry."

Kim looked to him with confusion. "Sorry? About what?"

Ron ran his hand in front of Kim, up and down. "All of this, the whole vampire thing. I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't stop him, that you had to go through all this. I wasn't strong enough or fast enough and..."

"Ron." Kim waited until Ron went silent and then continued. "Ron, there was nothing you could have done. You tried, but there was nothing you or anyone could have done. I mean, look at how fast I got taken out."

"But if I had just..."

"Just what Ron? We had no idea what we were getting into when we got there. Even if we had actually believed it was a vampire, it probably wouldn't have done any good. I still would have tried to find out what happened to those missing people. You can't blame yourself." Kim could see this was still tearing Ron apart. "Is this why you went to Japan?"

Ron nodded, hanging his head. "I had to, it was the only way I could think of to get better."

"And then you met Yori again."

Ron visibly flinched at that. "It didn't just happen, but..."

Kim silenced him quickly, smiling at him. "You are happy, aren't you?" Ron nodded slowly. "Then that's all that matters. You did everything you could, and when you thought I was gone, you moved on with your life. Ron, I'm proud of you."

Ron couldn't help it, and he broke down in Kim's arms. Kim held him, crying as well, as the pain of the last few years pored out of them. For several minutes they held each other, until finally they broke apart.

Ron wiped away the tears, blinking to clear them. "Well, there goes any macho points I might have gained."

Kim wiped away her own tears with a grin. "When have you ever had macho points?"

"Ouch!" Ron laughed along with Kim, the tears finally over. Ron smiled easily now as he looked at his best friend. "So... you and Shego, you two are happy."

Kim smiled in response. "Yeah, we're happy."

The grin on Ron's face changed. "And the two of you..."

Kim scowled at him. "Yes."

Ron nodded slowly, looking thoughtful for a moment. With a bright smile on his face, he turned back to Kim. "Can I watch?"

Kim smacked him hard on the shoulder, sending Ron to the floor.

"OWWW!" Ron was rubbing his shoulder as he lay on the floor. "It's just a question, you could have said no."

Kim glared one last time at the goofy grin on Ron's face before shaking her head and helping him up off the floor. "You're just lucky Shego didn't hear you."

The grin on Ron's face settled, becoming more casual. "I guess that's my cue to take off then." Ron wrapped his arms around Kim, hugging her tight. "Glad to have you back KP."

Kim was holding him just as tight. "Glad to be back."

Ron pulled away reluctantly, casting one last look at Kim. "And make sure you drop by if you end up in Japan. I'm sure the kids would love to meet their Aunt Kim."

"We'll be sure to do that."

"I love you KP."

Kim smiled back at him. "I love you too Ron."

With a final wave, Ron headed off, through the front door this time, and Kim watched him go. She felt Shego wrap her arms around her from behind, and Kim settled back into the comforting warmth. "It's good to have friends."

"Yeah, the buffoon grew up pretty good." Shego gently kissed Kim's bare shoulder. "He's just lucky I didn't kill him for that crack about watching us."

"Ron wouldn't really do that." Kim frowned slightly. "I don't think..."

"He's a guy, he's a ninja, and we told him the only thing that let us detect him getting in here. He'd do it."

Kim appeared thoughtful as she looked off into the distance after Ron. "We're gonna have to electrify everything, aren't we?"

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Ron crawled back into bed just as dawn began it's approach. He tried not to wake Yori, but it was a pointless endeavor.

Yori opened her eyes, smiling at her husband. "Did your talk with Possible-san go well?"

Ron kissed her gently as he shifted under covers. "Yeah, I think so."

Yori looked into her husband's eyes and smiled. The hole was gone, she could see that clearly, and for the first time in years, her husband was finally completely at peace. She felt him snuggle up against her and with an easy sigh, Yori allowed herself to drop off to sleep, glad in the knowledge that everything was going to be all right.

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Author's Notes – This story didn't REALLY need to be done, but after reading the series, I just had to do this. Ron's side of the story just had to be told and resolved, at least in my own mind. I hope everyone enjoyed it.


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